Thursday, July 3, 2008

Lesser Scaup in the pond?

My guess is that this is the Lesser Scaup. What do you think?? I observed them at Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Of course they kept swimming at the far end of the pond not allowing the paparazzi (me) to take as many great photos as I would've liked.

10 comments:

kjpweb said...

That's a tough one! It don't believe it's a Lesser Scaup. The one in front matches the female Tufted Duck, the (obvious) male to the left doesn't match either Lesser Scaup not Tufted Duck - the plumage is woo brownish at the side and on top - maybe immature? Then I'd say Tufted Duck, for both seem to miss the white markings on the the head the Scaups have.
Cheers, Klaus

Anonymous said...

I agree that this isn't a Scaup species! First guess is Ring-necked Duck (with a strange plumage) but Tufted is possible! WOW, very tricky bird!

Christy said...

I agree with mon@rch on the Ring-necked Duck with strange plumage. It seems to match this category best.

The Birdlady said...

I'm not so good with duck ID unless it's one of the really unique ones - nice shot though, both this one and the young swans.

sandy said...

Well I have no idea other than its' a beautiful photo and bird.

very nice...

John B. said...

I agree with the commenters who have suggested Ring-necked Duck. The plumage seems abnormal, but it could be an effect of wear, molt, discoloration, etc. I see Tufted Duck as a very weak possibility. More likely would be melanism or hybridization with another North American species.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen one in real life, so I can't say! Beautiful picture though!

Jessica said...

I'm enjoying your water bird photos and posting. Water birds are something that I haven't ventured out to find much in my birding activities. I need to!

Shelley said...

Thank you everyone for your comments and guesses! I looked up the Cornell site and I think I'm inclined to believe it is a Ring-necked duck. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Ring-necked_Duck.html

Willard said...

It's good to see that you have a lot of waterfowl in your area now. I guess that is where the ducks we had here earlier went.

I would agree that those are Ringneck Ducks with the one on the left being a female and the right a male. We have them here from March until sometime in April or early May. I don't have any good stills of them, but I have videotaped them extensively.